Myslowice, Poland, June 12, 2014
- With four of five rounds played in pool play at the FIVB Beach
Volleyball U23 World Championships in Myslowice, the field for the elimination
rounds is taking shape.

While the temperature dropped
from tropic to around 21 degrees Celsius on Thursday, tension was rising in
Slupna Park.

Spain’s Lobato/Soria upset
Canada’s Humana-Paredes/Pischke

Brazil’s Allison Cittadin
Francioni/Gustavo Albrecht Carvalhaes and Norway’s Lars Fredrik Tvinde/Hendrik
Nicolai Mol both added two more wins to their unbeaten status at the FIVB Beach
Volleyball U23 World Championships on Thursday.

With four wins each they will decide in the last pool match on Friday who is
going to top the pool. The 10th seeded Norwegians have a slightly better track
record here in Myslowice, they have not lost a set yet, while the 3rd seeded
Brazilians lost one in their first match on Wednesday. Read
more

Brazil and Norway set to
clash for top position in pool C at U23

Angela Lobato Herrero and
Paula Soria Gutierrez booked an important win on Thursday on their way to the
knockout rounds of the FIVB Beach Volleyball U23 World Championships in
Myslowice.

The 22-year old Spanish girls defeated their biggest competitors for top seed
in pool D: Melissa Humana-Paredes and Taylor Pischke from Canada. Lobato and
Soria were down one set against the 2013 bronze medallists, but managed to come
back and win the tiebreak: 19-21, 21-18, 15-13. Read
more

Costa Ricans looking up to
best U23 players of the world in Myslowice

Andres Felipe Flores Garita
and Victor Alpizar Campos are by far one of the shortest and skinniest men’s
teams at the FIVB Beach Volleyball U23 World Championships, but the two Costa
Ricans make up for it in fighting spirit.

Czech opponents Ondrej Benes and Ondrej Perusic made defence player Flores run
from left to right and back and forth, but he just kept on digging the balls.
Eventually the Costa Rican team lost 2-0 (21-12, 21-19), but there was
improvement compared to Wednesday, said Flores. Read
more

Mexico’s Santoyo and Lopez
overcome jetlag and book first win at U23

Gloria Itzel Santoyo Salazar
and Frida Carol Lopez Olmos felt a bit hopeless on the first day of the FIVB
Beach Volleyball U23 World Championships. But on Thursday the 36th seeded
Mexican students got their act together and booked their first win in
Myslowice.

The 19-year old Santoyo and 21-year old Lopez had to overcome a seven-hour time
difference and the fact that they really did not know each other. Both girls
played in Youth and Junior World Championships before, but with different
partners. Read
more

Main draw continues on Friday
at 8.00 with the final round in pool play and the first knockout round. The top
4 teams in each pool advance to the elimination rounds, the pool winner and the
two best runners-up go directly to the second elimination round on Saturday. The
semifinals and medal matches for both genders are scheduled for Sunday on
centre court in Slupna Park.

The town of Myslowice is
hosting the U23 World Championships for the second time in a row. Last year
home team Kantor/Losiak won the gold in the men’s competition and Germany’s
Bieneck/Schneider in the women’s. Losiak is the only player who was able to
return to defend his title. With Kantor injured he is playing with Bryl this
time.

The second edition of the FIVB
U23 World Championships is the first of four age-group events this year. The
2014 calendar also features the inaugural U17 in Mexico, the U21 in Cyprus and
the U19 in Porto.